are we designing progress or just paving it in the name of smart cities?
Diu, walk along Diu's new coastal promenade on a hot afternoon, and you notice the paving before you notice the shade. The lighting is smart. The access is better. The promenade is genuinely lovely. But the trees, the living, breathing, canopy kind are mostly missing. Which raises an uncomfortable question for every Indian city rebuilding itself right now in name of smart cities : are we designing progress, or just paving it? The question hiding under the concrete How does anything grow, flourish or expand when it's surrounded by something as unyielding as concrete? It...
Ahmedabad wants five million trees before the 2030 Games. Will the shade actually reach the footpath?
Ahmedabad: On 3 August, the Amdavad Municipal Corporation issued a circular that almost nobody will read. It is a Standard...
New York unveils $850-million plan to build its “fastest bus system in history
New York: New York City has launched an ambitious plan to speed up its notoriously slow buses, promising commuters up...
Why Vadodara picked a crocodile to lead its UNESCO ‘City of Design’ bid
Vadodara: Most cities chase a "City of Design" label with a palace, a poet, or a glossy skyline. Vadodara is...
Vadodara’s Crocodile Bridge: A New Landmark Where Engineering Meets Local Identity
VADODARA: A giant crocodile may soon become the newest symbol of Vadodara’s connection with its rivers, heritage, and urban imagination....
The Supreme Court Just Made Walking a Fundamental Right. Can Our Cities Build the Footpaths to Match?
New Delhi: A father held his five-year-old son’s hand and walked him to school. A tanker hit the boy from...
How a Gujarat Startup Is Cutting Plastic Bottles Out of India’s Biggest Conferences
Ahmedabad: India's events industry has a plastic problem. Every major conference generates piles of empty PET bottles. Most of them...
india’s tryst with designing pedestrian-friendly streets
Pondy Bazaar, has been Chennaites’ most sought after shopping destination for several decades, long before the large shopping malls sprung...
ahmedabad opens people friendly happy street
The two-decade-old Khau Gali, the gastronomy high-street of Ahmedabad, has returned in a new avatar as “Happy Street Ahmedabad" after...
electric buses making inroad in cities in india
The urban mobility sector in India is presently facing various challenges such as increasing private vehicle ownership, degrading air quality,...
why affordable housing in gujarat is a riddle?
When in 2012, Gujarat Housing Board (GHB) reappeared in front of the people and the media after almost a decade...
god is in the market: is city planning in india getting hijacked by free-market overtures?
In the summer of 2015, the Narendra Modi government announced the 100 Smart Cities Mission. Once the list of cities...
making walkability in vogue in india, still a far cry
In the growing urban centres of today’s world, accessibility and walkability have become one of the growing concerns. Accessibility, in...
decoding india’s e-mobility policy & future landscape
In a rapidly transforming mobility paradigm, India has some inherent strengths and comparative advantages. The country also has a little...
understanding the social cost of climate-change in india
Based on the IPCC 2018 report, it is estimated if trends in climate change and land holdings in India continue...
what nations can learn from australia bushfire?
We have seen enough of what has been happening in forests of Amazon, US state of California and more significantly...
what’s in store for sustainability, corporate social responsibility and climate action in budget2020
Indian budget, Budget2020, preparation process now over and to be presented on the floor of the parliament by the Union...
